CHAPTER XXXVII

THE BATTLES OF THE SELLE AND MAUBEUGE

On October 12, the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 15th Battalions were withdrawn and placed in G.H.Q. reserve, and on the following day the 6th Battalion was transferred to the 4th Tank Brigade; meanwhile the retiring enemy endeavoured to form a defensive line on the east side of the river Selle.

On this front, on October 17, the Fourth Army and the First French Army attacked from Le Cateau southwards to Vaux Andigny on a front of about twelve miles. The 4th Tank Brigade was the only brigade in action, and its battalions were allotted as follows:

1st Tank Battalion To the IXth Corps, on the right. 301st American Battalion To the IInd American Corps, in the centre. 16th Tank Battalion To the XIIIth Corps, on the left.

The 6th Tank Battalion was held in Fourth Army reserve.

The chief obstacle was the river Selle, the course of which roughly approximated to the starting line in “No Man’s Land,” consequently reconnaissance of this obstacle was extremely difficult. In spite of this tapes were laid across the stream at night time, when it was discovered that the river had been dammed in places in order to render the crossing of tanks over it more difficult.

The early morning of the 17th was so foggy that tanks had to move forward at zero hour (5.30 a.m.) on compass bearings. Each of the forty-eight machines used carried a crib, and by casting these into the Selle north of St. Souplet and at Molain the 1st and 16th Battalions and the 301st American Battalion crossed this river safely. The resistance offered by the enemy was not great, the Germans apparently having considered the flooded river a certain obstacle against tanks.

Three days later the Third Army attacked between Le Cateau and the Scheldt canal, four tanks of the 11th Battalion co-operating with the Vth Corps against Neuvilly and Amervalles. Again the chief difficulty was the crossing of the Selle: this was successfully effected by means of an underwater sleeper bridge constructed by the Royal Engineers at night time: being under water the bridge was not visible to the enemy during the day. The attack was entirely successful, all four tanks crossing the river and reaching their objectives.

About the middle of October the 2nd Tank Brigade was reconstituted, the following battalions being allotted to it: 6th, 9th, 10th, 14th Battalions, and the 301st American Tank Battalion. All these units were short of men and very short of machines.

On October 23, thirty-seven tanks took part in a successful moonlight attack at 1.20 a.m. carried out by the Third and Fourth Armies north and south of Le Cateau, with the object of securing the whole line from the Sambre along the edge of the forest of Mormal to the vicinity of Valenciennes. In this attack the following battalions took part:

301st American Tank Battalion, allotted to IXth Corps. 10th Tank Battalion, allotted to XIIIth Corps. 11th and 12th Tank Battalions, allotted to Vth Corps.

In spite of the darkness, mist, and a considerable amount of gas shelling, all objectives were reached. Many good targets presented themselves, especially for case-shot fire, and in all some 3,000 prisoners were captured. In this attack tanks were of considerable help in crushing down hedges and so opening gaps in them for the infantry to pass through.

The attack was continued on the following day, six machines of the 10th Battalion co-operating with the 18th and 25th Divisions in the neighbourhood of Robersart. Near Renuart farm great assistance was rendered to the infantry, and a German ammunition dump exploded by a 6-pounder shell threw the enemy into great confusion and inflicted many casualties on him.

With this attack the battle of the Selle came to an end and with it 475 guns and 20,000 prisoners were added to those already captured.

The battle of Maubeuge opened on November 2 with an attack carried out by the IXth Corps west of Landrecies. This attack was supported by three tanks of the 10th Battalion and it was carried out in order to improve our position near Happegarbes preliminary to a big attack on the 4th. All objectives were taken, but unfortunately lost again before nightfall.

November 4 witnessed the last large tank attack of the war, large only in comparison with the number of machines at this time fit for action. The attack was on a broad front of over thirty miles, extending from the river Oise to north of Valenciennes. On the British section of this front thirty-seven tanks were used and were allotted as follows:

Third Army VIth Corps 1 Company 6th Tank Battalion. IVth Corps 2 Sections 14th Tank Battalion. Vth Corps 1 Company 9th Tank Battalion.

Fourth Army XIIIth Corps 5 Sections 14th Tank Battalion. 2 Companies 9th Tank Battalion. 2 Sections 14th Tank Battalion. 17th Armoured Car Battalion. IXth Corps 4 Sections 10th Tank Battalion.

From the above distribution of tanks it will be seen how exhausted units had become, sections now taking the place of companies and companies of battalions.

Zero hour varied on the Corps fronts from 5.30 to 6.15 a.m. Briefly the action of the tanks was as follows:

Those of the 10th Tank Battalion assisted in the taking of Catillon and Happeharbes; the capture of the former village was an important step in securing the crossing over the Oise canal. Generally speaking the tanks operating with the XIIIth Corps had a successful day, especially in the neighbourhood of Hecq, Preux, and the north-western edge of the forest of Mormal. Although supply tanks[37] are not meant for fighting purposes, three, which were carrying forward bridging material for the 25th Division, came into action near Landrecies. On approaching the canal they found that our infantry were still on its western side, hung up by machine-gun fire. One tank being knocked out, the section commander decided to push on with the other two; this he did, our infantry following these machines as if they were fighting tanks, with the result that the machine-gunners surrendered and the far bank of the canal was secured.

The following day, November 5, saw the last tank action of the war, eight Whippets of the 6th Tank Battalion taking part in an attack of the 3rd Guards Brigade north of the forest of Mormal. The country was most difficult for combined operations, for it was intersected by numerous ditches and fences which rendered it ideal for the rearguard operations the Germans were now fighting all along their front. Either the Whippets had to go forward and so lose touch with our infantry or remain with the infantry and lose touch with the enemy. In spite of these difficulties all objectives were taken, and the last tank action of the war was a success.

During the next few days refitting continued with a view to building up an organised fighting force from the shattered remnants of the Tank Corps; as this was in progress the signing of the armistice terms on November 11 brought hostilities to an end.

Ninety-six days of almost continuous battle had now taken place since the great tank attack at Amiens was launched by the Fourth Army on August 8, since when many of the officers and men of the Tank Corps had been in action as many as fifteen and sixteen times. During this period no fewer than 1,993 tanks and tank armoured cars had been engaged on thirty-nine days in all; 887 machines had been handed over to Salvage, 313 of these being sent to the Central Workshops, and 204 having been repaired and reissued to battalions. Of the above 887 tanks, only fifteen had been struck off the strength as unsalvable. Casualties against establishment had been heavy: 598 officers and 2,826 other ranks being counted amongst killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners; but when it is considered that the total strength of the Tank Corps on August 7 was considerably under that of an infantry division, and that in the old days of the artillery battles, such as the First Battle of the Somme, an infantry division frequently sustained 4,000 casualties in twelve hours fighting, the tank casualties were extraordinarily light. It was no longer a matter of twelve hours’ but of thirty-nine days’ fighting at twelve hours a day. From this we may deduce our final and outstanding lesson from all these battles, namely, that iron mechanically moved is an economiser of blood, that the tank is an economiser of life--the lives of men, men being the most valuable asset any country can possess.

The determination of Sir Douglas Haig had at length been rewarded, and the endeavours which failed at Passchendaele won through finally and irrevocably at Maubeuge. A fitting conclusion to all these operations is to be found in the last dispatch of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Armies, which hands down to posterity a just judgment on the value of the work carried out by the British Tank Corps during the ever-memorable months of August to November 1918. In these dispatches are to be found the following three paragraphs, which are worth pondering over when the time comes for us to consider the future:

“In the decisive contests of this period, the strongest and most vital parts of the enemy’s front were attacked by the British, his lateral communications were cut and his best divisions fought to a standstill. On the different battle fronts 187,000 prisoners and 2,850 guns were captured by us, bringing the total of our prisoners for the present year to over 201,000. Immense numbers of machine guns and trench mortars were taken also, the figures of those actually counted exceeding 29,000 machine guns and some 3,000 trench mortars. These results were achieved by 59 fighting British divisions, which in the course of three months of battle engaged and defeated 99 separate divisions.”

“Since the opening of our offensive on August 8, tanks have been employed on every battlefield, and the importance of the part played by them in breaking up the resistance of the German infantry can scarcely be exaggerated. The whole scheme of the attack of August 8 was dependent upon tanks, and ever since that date on numberless occasions the success of our infantry has been powerfully assisted or confirmed by their timely arrival. So great has been the effect produced upon the German infantry by the appearance of British tanks that in more than one instance, when for various reasons real tanks were not available in sufficient numbers, valuable results have been obtained by the use of dummy tanks painted on frames of wood and canvas.

“It is no disparagement of the courage of our infantry, or of the skill and devotion of our artillery, to say that the achievements of those essential arms would have fallen short of the full measure of success achieved by our armies had it not been for the very gallant and devoted work of the Tank Corps, under the command of Major-General H. J. Elles.”